Thursday, 3 May 2018

But finally going forwards. It is easier to start again sometimes and yet sometimes we have a spark in the original that makes us stick with it. After a sleepless night I decided to strip the original board down and use what I could so with a panel saw and a hammer I saw the initial work destroyed. Not wanting to sound either cynical or complacent I knew it was not up to it and I knew I could do better.

Theerfore the new board will be 3 foot square and on several (not sure yet 0 levels. This is what |I have decided so far.

It is Important to recall that most wargames boards are FLAT! I just did not want that. This board is to represent a hidden "Canyon" perhaps packed with mysteries. As such I dismantled the back wall of the original board. It as would the other pieces not be free standingand thus be able to be moved into different board positions. As such I created a separate base and back for it. This allowed me to address the straight board edge and instead go for something slightly more natural looking. Noy perfect but working with the materials at hand.

Creating an L shaped (in section) base also allowed me to enhance the cave areas and incorporate the caves onto the boards. The cave as seen to the right is embryonic at this stage and as such does need a LOT of work. But now at least I have a framework to work with. You can see on the bottom right a second cave area drawn out but not implemented. Several attempts at planning and only one out come. That is the way of it.From the side it is a total mess and some level of faith in my ability is needed sometimes it is lacking as I am filed with self doubt.
I do use a variety of different polystyrenes mostly to get a variety of thicknesses to try to create a more natural feel. It does not always work.

To be honest Sometimes I need to walk away and come back a day or a week later. Then when you do you kind of guaranteed that you will either not have the time or the weather will be dreadful but eventually you find you can overcome these issues and move to the next stage.

And this is the next stage. I mixed up filler from Wilkos and using it coated some bandages.. I will know later today if these have dried out sufficiently well. Early indications are that they have. If so I can and will move on to the next stage over the weekend. .

By the way if I have not mentioned it I hope-plan to have this all (3 foot board) finished by February and shall enjoy blogging each step be they forward steps or backwards steps.

I thought to do this as a beak from painting Tanks. but be waned there are more of those coming. With luck I also plan on getting some Victorian Science fiction done as well.

Until Sunday when I plan to post again, take care and paint if you feel like it
all the best Clit

Wednesday, 2 May 2018

yes two more 15mm tanks for "What the Tanker!" A panzer MK III and a T-60. The Panzer 3 is the big one (Not words I have needed to say before!). As we tend NOT to think of a Panzer 3 as being a large tank.

It looks like I have surcummed to peer pressure at the club, Or as others would say seen the light. As such this will be the last Russian tank for this project for a while.

Instead I will swap to Early war France for now and see how that goes. I did after all get 2 kills and would not just throw them away! The T 60 in particular while fast not fast enough to be rated as a FAST tank is interesting in the rules as it has a low profile. In the rules this means it will need an extra acquisition dice in order to acquire it. This is I my opinion and if used correctly quite a bonus.

But As I will no longer be focused on the Eastern Front (no more snow for a while) I have re-painted the Panzer III to fit the colours of France (and the Low Countries) in 1940.

Therefore this is the repainted Panzer 3 in a mid-dark grey. Now I find it interesting that the German tanks were repainted after the Spanish Civil War to be a Grey. As they fought the Russian tanks which were then Grey (I believe the Russian tanks were shipped via Mexico and they may or may not have been painted there!

As a side note Russian tanks were painted Green after the SCW so it seems that they swapped colours. What actually happened I don't know but to me it seems odd! There are 2 more Zvezda kits on the paint table. So it is likely that at least 1 more will be in the next post.

BROADSIDE SHOW: As a club we shall not be running a game this year. We have had a string of bad luck and were down to 2 peeps to run the game. Therefore with regret we have been forced to pull out! I shall still be at the show of course so either hide from me or say hallo whichever suits you best. I shall possibly be on a Flea market stall.

Until next time. Take care, have fun and get something done for the hobby. (AND NO EXCUSES!)

Monday, 30 April 2018

Board of play
Somewhere in Northern France 1940
All pics taken without me leaving my chair!

Before I talk about that I just want to say it is too damn cold in the bloody garage to build terrain. Feel free to call me a wimp but I do not want to be too cold to work properly! Therefore terrain post will get pushed back yet another day.

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I had 2 A13's(White and Blue)
Graham and Tim were my adversaries
They each had a single Panzer 2 each.
Points were equal.

Ok here we go. Yesterday at the club we had a game of "What a Tanker!" by Too Fat Lardies. Graham had set it all up before I arrived so it was too late to through a hissy fit and say that I did not want to do France 1940! The electrician was supposed to be coming to the club to give us more lighting...... he did not turn up!

Realising that if I could divide them I stood a better chance
I went right to face Graham.

Tim started to flank me
so I countered as Graham was playing hard to get
the tease!

I was able to trap Tim with the terrain
and some bad dice by him and him not
knowing the rules at all.
Graham had read them, I just watched Youtube videos!

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I was able to reduce his command dice at first.
all the while Buttoned up and Graham
using Rapid Fire with a 20mm auto cannon.
Tim reduced Blues command dice as well

But Tim was not able to move as much as he wanted
he was still acquired by both of my tanks
An Aim, a Fire and 3 hits (2 of which were crits)
and Tim brewed up

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Graham spent several turns Moving out of cover shooting and
moving into cover BEFORE I could fire back
The result was that while he did nt penetrate my armour he did force me to retreat.
and I retreated backwards into a building
Tim finally arrived and with a Panzer 3 this time.
he fired at my blue tank.
It missed.
So I returned fire and he failed to save with any armour
dice. the consequence is that 2 turns on the table
And Both of my tanks were on one kill.

I was still taking "temporary " damage and losing command dice
But I was holding on.
Time was lucky and managed to bring on a Panzer 4
I was now up against it.

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I managed to retreat back but was out flanked.
Blue had slipped down to only 2 command dice.

Things looked bad for Blue Tank!

Tim Fired and it was a Hit on Blue.
But not a penetration and I was forced to retreat yet again!
I did ask them where they wanted me to go
And they both said off the table!

So with 1 tank against 2 having lost 50% of my tanks I conceded the game
AND WON!

Conclusion: The British had destroyed 2 German tanks. While the Germans had only damaged 1 British tank. (Tracks and Optics) Yes I had conceded the French village but I had not taken sufficient damage to result in a loss of tank!

So each of my crews get a kill ring and if they each get 4 more (total 5 each tank) they become aces. A long way to go but a very good start.

Aftermath: Now I am faced with a dilemma. Do I Carry on doing the German and Russians, OR do I swap to German and British? 2 kills is not a start I would chose to give up easily. However Russian Zvezda tanks are cheap and to me that makes a difference. In the tying of this I think I have made my mind up but I would still like some input from you.

Until next time Take care have fun and paint if you get the chance. All the best Clint